Joint structure for electrical conductors



July 8, 1930. A. B. SAURMAN Er AL 1,769,967

JOINT STRUCTURE FOR ELECTRICAL CONDUCTORS Filed Feb. 10. 1925 Patented July 8, .1930

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Am :9; saumrm, or rrr'rsnunon, am) JOHN :B. wars, on wmxrnsnuno, 2mmmvama, AND LEON n. nnacn, or LONGVIEW, WASHINGTON, ASSIGNORS, IBY nan assremmn'rs, to 6mm cum oonrom'rron, A conroaa'rron 01 NEW JERSEY JOINT STRUCTURE FOR ELECTRICAL CONDUCTOBS Application am February io, 1926. Serial No. 247,301.

5 maybe united and separated at will. When united, the 'oint structure affords secure mechanical union and adequate electrical union.

between successive lengths of cable. While not limited in applicability to electric cables 10 of any particular class, we have developed it in application to cables such as are used in temporary installations and which are taken up and laid again repeatedly; Cables forsuch use, as distinguished from cables of relatively permanent installation, are not ordinarily lead-sheathed; they ordinaril are armored with an external wrapping 0 steel wire; they are relatively flexible; and the I conditions of their service re uire a joint which may be quickly made an broken and made again.

In the accom anying drawings Fig. I is a view partly in side elevation partly in medial and longitudinal section of a joint structure spective and to somewhat larger scale of the member, detached, through which electrical union is effected.

The uniting member separately shown in Fig. II consists of a cylindrical sleeve 2 of conducting material, ordinarily of copper, *slitted from op osite ends in slits 3 which overlap or interdi itate. The number of slits may vary; Fi I indicates eight such slits, .equally space and extending, four from each end, and extending each to proximity to the remote end'of the sleeve. That is an adequate number of slits, adequately proportioned and arranged.

Combined with the sleeve, constriction members may and preferabl vided. These may convenient ytakethe of split rings 4 of resilient .material. such ring is shown in Fig. II, separate from but in axial alignment with the sleeve2, to Y which it is to be applied. In Fig. I the sleeve 2 is shown to be surrounded by three such constriction members 4, arranged one at either end, and one in the middle. Fach is a split ring of resilient material, itmay be 0t of the invention; Fig. II is a view in per-.

will be fpro-.- One bronze, and each when applied is effective 'yieldingly to resist diametrical expansion of the sleeve, and to constrict the sleeve into closer contact upon the body which, introduced within the sleeve, has efiected expansion.

' The ends of the conductors to be joined are shaped to the form of cylindrical plugs, pref-Z erably with bluntly tapered points, and of a diameter not less and preferably somewhat greater than the normal interior diameter of the uniting member. Electrical-union is effected by driving the twoplugs into the opposite open ends of the uniting member. The union, it will be observed, is a push-and-pull union, to be made and broken and made again at will.

Ordinarilyin contact devices of this general sort, a plug of approximately cylindrical shape, though tapered'somewhat, is introduced between oppositely yielding plates. Thedifliculty hitherto has been to get large areas of contact. The parts cometo surfaceto-surface contact only when the plug has been thrust home; in intermediate positions, contact is along lines or at least over narrowly restricted areas. -With the contact device of' this invention, there is full surfaceto-su'rface contact over all the overla ping areas; to whatever degree the plugs be t rust home in the uniting member. When the plug is introduced, the sleeve expands, and whether the plug be driven into the sleeve a small distance, or to the .full extent, the interior surface of the sleeve will extend in parallelism to the exterior surface .of the plug, and there Fig. I shows the structure whic carrying the electrical union now described, effects mechanical union of the cable-ends, the union being onewhich, as has already been said, may be made and broken quickly.

The joint-casing consists of two duplicate conical parts 5, formed ordinarily of iron or of bronze, adapted to be bolted base to base,

in the position shown in Fig. I, and to be separated agaln by release of'the bolts. Each I conical half casing is truncated at the apex, and the axial opening so'formed is adapted to receive an introduced cableend. The means for effecting mechanical union of the casformed essentially of insulating material.

The bore through the bushing is shouldered,

asindicated at 8. The shoulder may conveniently be formed, as the drawing shows, by a brass ferrule 9, of somewhat smaller internal diameter, upon which and integrated with which the bushing 7 is shaped and'hardened.

A conductin stem 10, socketed to receive the end of a cable conductor, and externally shouldered, is introduced in the bushing 7 and brought to shoulder-to-shoulder abutnient with the bushing, and is secured by lock-nut 11 and cap-nut 12, screwed to place upon its protruding end. Although the drawing does not particularly show it, it will be understood that lock-nutand cap-nut may engage the stem by oppositely directed screwthreads, and thus the lock may be made the more secure. The cap-nut 12 constitutes the.

plug, for insertion in the coupling sleeve 2, already described. It will be perceived that, by proper proportionin of parts, the outer endof the cap-nut 12 alls a little short of the basal plane of the conical case-half 5.

Moisture-tight engagement of the remote end of each casing-half upon the outer surface of the cable-body is effected by means of a nut 13 threaded in the apical orifice in the conical casing-half. This nut 13, when applied, compresses between properly disposed surfaces and upon the surface of an inti'oduced cable, a body 14 of packing materia We preferably do not rely upon the union last described, to sustain tensile strains which an. installed cable may have to endure, but provide an additional means for sustaining and distributing such strains. Two rings 15 and 16 surround the cable adjacent the end of the joint casing. Ring 15 is of suitable internal diameter to surround the armored cable; it is adapted to'abut upon the end of the casing, and it is tapered externally diminishing in diameter from the end which abuts upon the joint casing outwardly, as'clearl? appears in Fig. I. Ring 16 is screw-threa ed upon the end of the joint casing, it surrounds ring 15 and presents to the tapered outer surface of ring 15 an oppositely tapered inner surface.

Each half joint is separately mounted upon a cable end in the following manner. 16,ring 15, and nut 13 are rst slipped over the cable-end. The cable-end is prepared by cutting away its protecting envelopes and exposing its conductor or conductors. U 11 each conductor a stem 10 is sweated. e properly prepared cable-end is now introduced through the apical orifice in the casinghalf 5; if it be a multiple-conductor cable, the conductors are spread within the casing, and the stems 10 are passed through the bushings 7 previously secured in the orifices in par-ti tion 6; and the lockin nuts 11 and the cap nuts 12 are then app ied. When this has been done, acking 14 isapplied, the nut 13 is advanced: and, the armor wires'being removed, fluid-tight union is effected of the casing at its apical end upon the outer surface of the cable. chamber formed by the partition 6 'at the apical end of the half casing, and now by the assembly closed at every orifice, may be filled with insulating compound, filling holes with removable closures 19 being provided for that purpose.

One of the armor wires is indicated in dotted lines at 17. It will be understood that these wires are wrapped helically but with long la externally upon the cable body. The en s of. these wires are raised to allow nut 13 to be applied. When the nut 13 has been applied to com lete fluid-tight union of the half casing to tie cable, ring 15 is advanced and caused to abut upon the end of the nut 13, with the armor wires between, and the ends of the armor wires are then bent back over the outer and tapered surface of ring 15. Ring 16 is then advanced andscrewed home upon the end of the casing, and as it comes to place it clamps the ends of armor.

wires between itself and ring 15. The anchorage thus accomplished of the armor wires is adequate to take all tensile strain, relieving the other parts in that respect. I

The structure is then ready for union, and all that is needed is to bring two such conical joint-halves, borne by the cable-ends to be united, into base-to-base engagement; to thrust the opposite cap-nuts 12 home within sleeves 2; and to bolt the joint-halves together, with packing-l8 between the meeting rims. A tight joint is thus formed, and each half of the structure is closure for the other.

The halves may be united and separated at will, and the electrical union made and broken at will. No rebuilding of joint structure is involved inre-establishinghlectrical union. The union when made is" adequate, both electrically and mechanically, for temorar .or vfor continuin use, in ortable p y g P service or in permanent installation.

When this has been done the The conical shape permits free movement 2 of the joint structure, a very desirable feature in portable service. .The anolibfige of the cable armorto the jointrasing effect! within the opening, each case art beingfurstems, an

bridging by tension-sustainin parts, over and around the sealed electrica union, and this gives security and undiminished efli- .ciency undersevere conditions of service.

cluding two case arts adapted to be brought orm each a closure for the ot er, each case part carrying a plu of conducting materia each case art a apted to receive and carry a cable en with the aforesaid plug in electrical union with the cable conductor, and an expansible sleeve of conducting materialadapted to receive in its 015- posite ends the plu s of two case parts and to be so engaged by t e plugs of two case parts when the parts are brou ht together.

3. A- joint structure f cluding two conical case parts adapted to be united base to base, each case part being provided with an apical cable rece ving 0 nmg and means for clamping a cable to p ace to ether and to ther provided interiorly wit a transerve partition with orifices in the partition, bushings of insulating material set in said orifices, stems of conducting material adapted to be united electrically to cable conductors and adapted to be clamped to place in said bushings, clam ing nuts adapted to enga e said material adapted to be engaged by and to unite opposite clampin nuts.

4. A make-and-brea joint structure for a flexible armored cable including two conical half casings adapted to be united in base to-base engagement, each casin half provided with an apical orifice an internally with a transeverse and orificed partition, means for securing in fluid-tight engagement in the orifice of each casing hal an unarmored cable body, means for anchorin to each casing half the end of the armor o a length of cable whose body is introduced through such orifice, a conducting stem for each casing half adapted to be umted to the end of a cable conductor and adapted to be secured in the orifices in the said partitions,

. and an expansible sleeve ada ted to be engaged by and to complete the e ectrical union of opposite conducting s tems borne by companion casing halves.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands.

' ATLEE B.' SAURMAN.

JOHN B. WEBB.

In testimony whereof I havehereunto set m hand. LEON D. BEACH.

or electric cables inexpansible sleeves of con ucting 

